Hold Tight
by nicnac918
Summary: And never let go. Drifting Stars AU


Ford ran through the Nightmare Realm, the cackling of Bill's lackeys nipping at his heels. He ignored them, intent on finding Bill and ending him. This stopped right here, right now.

Suddenly, improbably, impossibly even except it couldn't be impossible because it was happening, a portal opened. Not just a portal, but the portal, Ford's portal leading back to his home dimension. He had to rearrange all his priorities in an instant. While facing off against Bill was still the most important task he would ever have, getting through the portal before any of Bill's hench-monsters did was significantly more urgent at the moment.

Ford turned abruptly and began running toward the portal. He reached the edge of the platform he was on and jumped. He flew through the air, closer and closer, losing momentum, but it was enough. He was going to make it through. He was going to make it. He was–

Someone came soaring through the portal from the other direction, slamming into Ford and knocking him off course. The portal itself closed an instant later. Ford didn't think, he reacted. He grabbed on tight to the child that had just become stranded here in the Nightmare Realm, dropped his Quantum Destabilizer, used his now free hand to pull out his Portable Portal Producer, and sent himself and the girl to a different dimension.

It took him all of five seconds after he'd reached safety to begin cursing his instincts. Years, decades of planning, and he had _dropped his gun_ in the Nightmare Realm. It took an additional ten minutes and a few threats on his life down the barrel of the grappling hook by his niece – he had a niece! – to conclude that he didn't regret his actions. (He's not sure when he realized it was the best decision he ever made.)

This was probably the coolest thing that had ever happened to Mabel. Well, no, the coolest had been when Sev'ral Timez had written a song for her and performed it live in person at a private concert just for her. But this was probably the second coolest. She was in another dimension in a super cute open air market surrounded by all kinds of aliens. Everywhere she looked there was all kinds of crazy cool stuff going on.

A lot of crazy stuff. A lot, a lot. Maybe too much. She wished Dipper was here. Then she could tease him for geeking out over being in another dimension and over getting to hang out with the Author and not knowing which to geek out more over. Or Grunkle Stan, Mabel could help him steal everything in sight, even the stuff they didn't know what it did. Especially the stuff they didn't know what it did. Instead she was here with her serious and kind of scary Great Uncle Stanford.

No! She couldn't think that way! Grunkle Ford probably wasn't stern, that was probably just the way his face was. He was probably actually really cool and fun. Plus he was her family, and he was going to take care of her. He was… the only one she had.

Mabel reached out and grabbed onto his coat. She was trying to be sneaky about it so she wouldn't bother Grunkle Ford, but he noticed right away. He looked down at her, then looked at her hand. Then he smiled kind of nervous like he thought she was the maybe a little bit scary one and offered her his hand.

Mabel grabbed on tight and smiled back.

Ford pushed the door open, softly so as to not disturb Mabel if she was asleep. The hotel rooms in this dimension, or the ones in this city at least, all had separate enclosed alcoves for each person to sleep in. Ford would have thought he would find the return of some privacy comforting, but despite only knowing her for two weeks, he was finding it hard to fall asleep without the sound of Mabel's breathing.

Because of his new-founded familiarity with her breathing, he could tell immediately there was something off with it when he peeked into her room. It was still soft like usual, but not gentle and rhythmic. It was uneven with frequent hitching.

"Mabel? Is something wrong?" What a stupid question. What _wasn't_ wrong? She had lost her home, her family, everything she knew and now was stuck with no one but a man who was a virtual stranger to her.

"I miss… I miss…" She was unable to finish her sentence, though whether because of the great gasping breaths she was taking or because there were too many things that she missed to name one, Ford didn't know. Probably both.

He sat down on her bed, desperate to comfort her, but unsure how to do so or if she'd even want that from him. Experimentally, he reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. Mabel launched herself at him, burying her face in his chest and sobbing.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he said. If only he'd never built that stupid portal, she wouldn't be in this mess. "I'll get you home, I promise." Ford hugged her tight and hummed an old childhood lullaby as Mabel cried herself to sleep.

Mabel closed her eyes and wished she could purr. No one had brushed her hair for her since she had been a little kid and couldn't do it herself. Well, sometimes people had brushed it because they were styling it, like when she and her friends did makeovers, but no one had brushed it just to brush it. She really liked having Grunkle Ford do that for her. It felt safe and comforting, like a mama cat grooming her kitten.

"All done," Grunkle Ford said.

Mabel turned around and grinned at him. "Okay, your turn!"

Ford paced the floor of his cell. This wasn't the first time in the past thirty-plus years that he'd been thrown in a prison, but it was far and away the most stressful. Where was Mabel? Was she safe? Had they captured her too? He needed to escape, right now, and find her.

The door swung open. "Grunkle Ford, I'm busting you out," Mabel declared, one hand on her hip and the other holding her grappling hook aloft.

Ford swept her up in a hug, heedless of her attempts to look cool. "You're safe! Thank goodness you're safe. How did you get here?"

"I made a friend," Mabel said, waving cheerily at the guard who was very pointedly not looking at them. "Now come on, we have to get out of here before –" An alarm started blaring. "…that happens."

Ford and Mabel exchanged a quick look, and in one smooth motion she went from being on the floor in front of him to riding piggyback. They had found this was the best method to maximize speed while making absolutely certain they didn't lose one another.

"There," Mabel said as she finished rubbing in the last of the antibiotic burn cream. "Now I've just got to bandage you up and you'll be good to go."

"Thank you," Grunkle Ford said.

"It's a good thing I was here. You'd never be able to reach your back by yourself." Of course, if Mabel hadn't been there, then Grunkle Ford never would have gotten hurt trying to protect her. Nope, stop, don't think like that.

"I count myself fortunate every day," Grunkle Ford said. He eased his shirt back down over the bandage she had just applied, then shifted so he could give her a very serious look. "Now Mabel, I need you to make me a promise."

"To never go anywhere near those people again? Promise made," Mabel said.

"That's a good idea, but no. I need you to promise me if something like this happens again, and I tell you to run and leave me, then you'll do it."

"No."

"Mabel…" Grunkle Ford said in a warning tone.

"I'm not doing it. Because you already made me a promise that you were going to take me home," Mabel reminded him.

"Of course we have to make sure you can get home," Grunkle Ford agreed. "You already know some of my contacts, but we should make a point of introducing you to the rest, and getting together a list of people and places you can go to if the worse happens and –"

"No," Mabel repeated, louder because Grunkle Ford wasn't listening. "You promised that _you_ would take me home." She crawled into his lap and laid her head on his shoulder. "We have to go home together or it doesn't count."

"I…" Grunkle Ford hugged her back. "Okay. Together. I promise."

Ford's mind was awash in plans and calculations. How much further they could go that day, how much food they had left, how far to the next town, did they have enough of the local currency to resupply with everything they needed…

"Grunkle Ford, look!" Mabel cried, and Ford went on instant alert for danger. Despite or perhaps because of that he was left completely breathless by what he saw.

They had nearly reached the top of the mountain and now were at the perfect vantage point to see what seemed like the whole world sprawled at their feet. Hills and valleys, forests and lakes and rivers, all in glorious, vibrant color. And way off in the distance, the sun was just beginning to kiss the horizon, sending streaks of red and pink across the sky.

Ford gave Mabel's shoulder a squeeze. "It's beautiful," he said. Mabel wrapped her arm around his waist in a sideways hug and leaned in as the two of them watched the sun set.

At first Mabel wasn't sure why she had woken up. Then she heard it, Grunkle Ford tossing and turning and whimpering and moaning in his sleep. He was having a nightmare again. Grunkle Ford had a lot of nightmares, enough so Mabel knew that it was a really bad idea to wake him up from one. He freaked out and started yelling and swinging his fists and pointing guns around, and just don't do it. Instead Mabel crawled up close, but not too close, and started meowing like she did when she had a bad dream. After a minute he started to settle down, enough for Mabel to lie down next to him and hug him. He woke up a little tiny bit, just enough to hug Mabel back and mumble something. She could never understand what he was saying, but Mabel always pretended it was "Goodnight, Mabel. I love you."

"I love you too. Goodnight, Grunkle Ford."

Ford stared slack-jawed as a portal opened in front of them. Not just a portal, but the portal, their portal back home. "Impossible," he breathed.

"If it was impossible, then it wouldn't be happening," Mabel countered.

Ford smiled at her. "Unassailable logic, as always."

"That's because I've been learning from the Author," she said. Even after all this time, it still amused Ford to hear her refer to him that way. Mabel was possibly the only person he knew that could speak with audible capital letters. "I bet I could even out-logic Dipper now."

"Well," Ford said. He looked at the portal, then looked back at her. "Only one way to find out."

Mabel grinned at him, more brilliant than he had ever seen before. She took a tight hold of his hand, and they ran the last few steps home together.


End file.
